Israeli climber visits, receives award

Nadav Ben-Yehuda would have become the youngest Israeli at age 24 to summit Mount Everest last year. However, he aborted the climb to assist an unconscious Turkish climber.

Ben-Yehuda recently visited Miami where he shared his Mount Everest experience at Temple Menorah in Miami Beach and received Florida International University's Medallion of Courage during a graduation ceremony.

"It was a beautiful ceremony and it was a blessing to be honored," Ben-Yehuda said about his honor from FIU.

The Medallion of Courage honors individuals who pursue or defend a noble cause at a personal cost. After accepting the medallion, Ben-Yehuda had a message to the graduates.

"We, as future politicians and world leaders, carry the burden of responsibility," he said. "Every hard fall I take while climbing, broadens my shoulders. Everything you choose to do, and every choice you make will widen your shoulders so you can carry that burden."

The university's President Mark Rosenberg said honoring Ben-Yehuda was very special.

"He's a person who values human life and whose actions match his commitment," Rosenberg added.

Ben-Yehuda was 300 yards from the mountain's peak when he went back to assist the unconscious Turkish climber, Aydin Irmak, who had been incapacitated by the extreme conditions. Ben-Yehuda carried Irmak for hours to a lower-elevation base. He attributes his decision to go back and save the climber to his military training in Israel.

"From Day One in the IDF, you are being told that you never leave a fellow soldier or friend behind," he said. "You are being told the same line from day one to the last day. When you are told the same line over and over again, it grows deep inside you."

Ben-Yehuda was injured in the climb. He said the injuries changed the way he does things. After recovering from them, Ben-Yehuda returned to climbing and recently planted an Israeli flag on Mount Kazbek, part of the Caucasus mountain range in Georgia. He has founded the Buds of Friendship Initiative for children caught in the cross fire of the Israel-Hamas conflict and speaks a lot in Israel to the climbing community there and around the world.